


Well-Suited (remix of "Bespoke")

by blueorangecrush



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Butch Female Character, Carrying On Traditions, Crossdressing, Genderfluid Character, Intergenerational friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 11:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7616281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueorangecrush/pseuds/blueorangecrush
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lida Knarrly has a new and unexpected customer base.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well-Suited (remix of "Bespoke")

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kelly_chambliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelly_chambliss/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Bespoke](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3161591) by [kelly_chambliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelly_chambliss/pseuds/kelly_chambliss). 



> Bespoke was such a delight of a story, I hope I have done it justice! Lida's shop reminds me of [Bindle and Keep](http://www.bindleandkeep.com/), and I've admired their work for years, so I enjoyed getting to sit on her cutting-bench for a bit, so to speak.

**Griselda Marchbanks**

Griselda had been the first – at least, the first since Lida had taken over the shop.

It all started after Lida had received the contract from the Ministry for a full set of Wizengamot robes, meant to be both sturdy and impressive while caring nothing for whims of fashion or of self-expression. Griselda had been the one in charge of fulfilling the contract, because for some reason the wizards thought a witch would be more suitable “though wizards are more familiar with a place like this,” Griselda had added, with a look of longing at the bolts of fine fabric above her.

Lida wasn’t sure what impulse prompted her but she said, “Perhaps we should change that, then. I can take on help, look into expanding into witches’ finery…” and was cut off with a sharp, sudden, “NO.”

Lida looked curiously at her customer, who seemed to be very sternly reminding herself not to touch anything. “What would you suggest, then, Madam Marchbanks?” she asked.

Griselda sighed. “I know it seems odd and not right, but honestly, I’d rather have a good, solid wizard dress robe than the flimsy things they expect witches to wear on formal occasions. I’d rather just buy one or two and be done with it than wear through one every season and find that my choices are all some new-fangled nonsense that I would hate being caught undead in.”

Lida considered this for a moment and said thoughtfully, “Well, everything we do here _is_ custom work, Madam. Therefore, I would be able to customize such a thing for you – perhaps softened a bit if you do not wish to be easily mistaken for a wizard – and you can judge the success of the outcome for yourself.”

“Could we perhaps make something up with the brown windowpane?” Griselda asked. “Not so severe as pinstripes, a bit softer on the eyes, and maybe a moss green for the lining?”

“Yes, if that is what you would like, we can make it happen.”

Griselda had always been a bit eccentric, and in her “softened wizard suits” she was compared to the American Muggle Amelia Bloomer, who advocated for reform and rethinking of the popular clothing styles. Lida wouldn’t say that Griselda successfully started a trend, exactly, but there were a few other women who came to Lida looking for the same sort of formalwear, and it was good for business, so Lida always told them that their friends were welcome any time if they wanted to buy what she was selling.

 

**Rolanda Hooch**

Ro wasn’t just another friend of Griselda’s who came in through word of mouth. There had been plenty of those over the last decades, and Lida generally enjoyed having them as customers. Most of them, like Griselda, gravitated towards the softer, more subtle fabrics as if they did not want to truly insist that they were wearing clothing generally associated with wizards, but wanted to create something in between witch’s and wizard’s robes.

Ro was different. Ro was different because Griselda reached out by owl to Lida to make the appointment for a fitting on Ro’s behalf, and added “Ro’s young and just getting started as a Quidditch referee. She can’t afford your robes on her own, but please let her get whatever she wishes and send the bill directly to me. Many thanks for your fine work, as always.”

When the time came for the fitting, Ro was clearly nervous, and yet she covered the nerves with a thick layer of bravado. She had no interest in the soft browns and grays and moss-greens, instead immediately finding delight in a sharp navy pinstripe.

“I can’t wear my referee uniform off the pitch, though I daresay it would make life simpler if I could. I _do_ quite fancy stripes, though. So, if it’s all right, these, and then round it out with just the basics otherwise. I don’t wish to burden Madam Marchbanks with this any more than I must.”

“My dear,” Lida responded, trying for more severity than she fealt, “Madam Marchbanks has stated _most_ explicitly that you _are_ to burden her to the extent required for your own happiness with this project.”

Ro’s face lit up as she chose a brilliant (and expensive!) matador-red silk for her waistcoat.

 

**Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank**

Lida had been recommended to Will by Ida McMillan, much as she had been to Ida and Ro by Griselda. However, Will would not hear of Ida paying. Not for everything. They had argued, and in the end, Will accepted Ida paying the tailor’s fee while Will paid the cost of the fabrics. This apparently satisfied Ida’s desire to carry on the tradition Griselda had started and Will’s desire for self-sufficiency.

Will wanted to talk endlessly about the fabrics and notions, especially those with animal origins. She was thrilled by the collection of Peace Silk, and fascinated by an experimental wool blend fabric that incorporated Niffler hair. In the end, that was the fabric she selected for her cape – it was similar in effect to cashmere, but the use of Niffler hair made the bright white shirt beneath the cape almost sparkle in contrast.

Will became quite the student of wool-bearing beasts once she bought her first suit from Lida, and co-wrote a lengthy paper with Pomona Sprout and Minerva McGonagall on the topic of their care, selection, and breeding. Will occasionally came to Lida with samples and ideas, and sometimes Minerva would help with basic Transfigurations into test swatches.

Around the time of one of Will’s visits, the Wizengamot required a completely new set of robes as the old ones were beginning to look undignified. Minerva and Will offered a new fabric that mixed black wool with the hair of those newly fashionable purple Puffskeins. The resulting color was a strikingly formal plum that Lida thought was a great improvement over the previous bottle-green color.

Even outside the Wizengamot, the new fabric became popular. Headmaster Dumbledore, himself, ordered a dramatic new set of dress robes made from it.

 

**Millicent Bulstrode**

Will set up an appointment for a shy young person, and warned Lida that Millicent might not show, or might want to be called something other than Millicent. It had been a rough life for her, and Will wanted to do the one thing that Millicent would accept to change it.

“I don’t suppose you remember how reluctant you were to accept Ida’s gift?” Lida chuckled.

“Oh, I do, and I am prepared to make such a compromise if she insists. But she’s working as a cleaner for the Harpies, which means she’s probably getting paid far less than she’s worth to deal with the stink of Quidditch gear day in and night out.”

Lida wasn’t sure what to expect of Millicent. But the girl reminded her a bit of Will and a bit of Ro, and sure enough she went for Ro’s style of robes, pinstripes and sharp contrasts.

When Millicent came back for a fitting without Will, Lida was trying a complex repair on a suit that Wood from Puddlemere United had left her with. She wanted to tell him that it was beyond repair, that he really needed to start over, but he had said something about it being his lucky suit and how important it was that it be fixed.

Millicent looked at the robe, shaking her head. “Keepers are the _worst_ on their robes, I swear. We get this all the time with the Harpies, Prewett splits her robes every other time she wears them and I have to fix them.”

Lida sighed. “How many times do you fix it before you just – give up?”

Millicent grinned. “Depends on the fix. May I?”

Lida was uncertain, but she didn’t see how she could make it worse.

_“Consarcio!”_ Millicent cast the spell softly, dragging her wand down the damaged fabric. “ _Consarcio! Consarcio!”_

Lida tilted her head, impressed. “I don’t know that spell. I mean, I’ve tried _Reparo_ of course, but…”

Millicent shook her head. “The only way _Reparo_ works is if you have pieces of a broken thing. Tears in clothes don’t work quite the same way. We were taught to always use _Consarcio_ instead of _Reparo_ on players’ uniforms, and it became a habit we use with their street clothes – or our own. Now, _Consarcio_ won’t work either if, you know, you burned a hole in the fabric or wore it out. It depends on there being fabric to weave to, but for this kind of thing?” Millicent looked again at the gash in the jacket that she was repairing. “If you never knew it was there, you would _never_ know it had ever been there.”

“I’ll drink to that, my dear, as soon as we have your fitting, if you’d like to share a nightcap with me?”

Millicent considered for a moment, then broke into a smile. “That sounds great. Thank you!”

 

**Gabe Delacour**

Lida knew that when Will bought Millicent her first suit, Will’s one request was that “maybe twenty or thirty years from now” Millicent pay it forward, buying a suit in turn for a young person whose self-expression was not the standard sort for a wizard or a witch.

It took Millicent less than five years to bring in a beautiful, slender seventeen year old whose pale hair was combed absolutely straight and then pulled into a simple black velvet bow at the nape of their neck. “Call me Gabe,” the youngster said with a charming smile.

What Gabe wanted to know, because “sometimes I feel kind of like a girl and sometimes really not like a girl at all,” was if it would be possible to get a suit made that could adapt based on whether Gabe decided it was a day to bind their breasts or not.

“Well, young friend, you’re in luck. We’ve found recently that Puffskein yarn makes a truly superior binder, and that a twenty-percent Puffskein blend in a shirt or waistcoat will coordinate with the shift between binders and standard brassieres for all but the largest cup sizes. And it appears, my dear, that you will have comparatively little to worry about in that regard.”

Gabe’s face lit up.   After draping nearly every fabric in the place, Gabe settled on a pale blue seersucker that did not see much use, with a shirt that was as crisp and starched as any Lida offered, but also pink. “I like to challenge expectations,” Gabe said with a smile. “A wizard’s cut and polish, what have often been considered witchy colors, and me not really being quite either one. I don’t know what I should call myself. None of the words seem right.”

“Maybe you’ll find the words. Or maybe you’ll make your own. It’s all up to you, my dear, but I will do my best to make sure you look good doing it! I do so love having youngsters like you in my shop – remember to tell your friends!” Lida said to Gabe. “And come back in a week for your next fitting.”

“Thank you for taking care of Gabe,” Millicent said quietly, while Gabe wasn’t listening. “And for taking care of _me._ You changed my life, maybe saved it. I hope that happens for Gabe, too.”

In the three years since Millicent’s first suit, she had gone from locker-room cleaner to equipment room manager for the Harpies, and then to a specialized role testing Quidditch equipment for safety and legality and managing donations of old equipment to cash-strapped neighborhood teams. Her girlfriend had recently retired from playing to start writing a regular sports column, so it was easy to avoid potential for conflicts of interest. She mentioned her intention to take Gabe on as an apprentice once Gabe completed school at Beauxbatons.

Hearing all of this made Lida happy. The tradition Griselda had started was being kept alive, and the young women and young people who were sometimes women or seen as women who came to her for their first quality tailored robes had helped her and helped each other so much over the years. Someday Lida would have to take on an apprentice of her own. She couldn’t do this forever. Perhaps whoever Gabe brought to her, when the time came, would be suitable.


End file.
